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US military makes its mark

PETER CAVE: The prospect of huge new influx of uniformed Americans comes almost 70 years after American soldiers first arrived en masse in Australia.

Back then they sparked controversy and conflict at the infamous "Battle of Brisbane" as well as arguably positive changes to Australian society.

From R and R in Kings Cross during the Vietnam War to Pine Gap in the 80s, the American military presence has often generated controversy.

Adam Harvey reports.

ADAM HARVEY: When American troops arrived in Australia in the 1940s they brought their military might and their music.

(Sound of jazz music)

And Australia was never quite the same.

Dr Peter Stanley is the head of the Centre for Historical Research at the National Museum of Australia.

PETER STANLEY: The Americans' arrival created some social problems. There were... competition over women is a crude way to put it.

But the advantages were, though, that Australians were exposed to American social mores, cultural things. For example, jazz music came to Australia largely because of the presence of American servicemen.

Australian women realised that men didn't have to go off to the pub and drink and come home sloshed at six o'clock. The Americans were much more courtly, much more polite. They gave gifts, they stood up for women in trams and things.

So there were lots of incidental spin-offs to the American military presence.

ADAM HARVEY: Australian men didn't react too well to the arrival of these well dressed, smooth-talking foreigners.

(Excerpt from Radio National series The Home Front, episode 7 'Hullo, Goodbye' 1986)

BRISBANE VOX POP: We liked them but we never really made friends with them. They were big mouths for a start.

(End of excerpt)

ADAM HARVEY: Neil James is the executive director of the Australia Defence Association.

NEIL JAMES: Well, there was the famous Battle of Brisbane between Australian and American servicemen in World War II. You know the old saying that there's three things wrong with the Americans - they're overpaid, oversexed and over here.

ADAM HARVEY: The simmering tensions blew up into a major confrontation in the heart of Brisbane in November 1942.

(Excerpt from Radio National series The Home Front, episode 7 'Hullo, Goodbye' 1986)

BATTLE OF BRISBANE WITNESS: I was in a tram travelling down Hunter Street and there was a terrific fight developed. And all the traffic stopped because the whole street was covered with fighting men. And I've never seen such bashing. But it was one of the worst things I've ever seen in my life and I really was scared.

BATTLE OF BRISBANE WITNESS 2: Then there were shots and they shot an Australian with a riot gun. And from then on it was on for something like three days.

(End of excerpt)

ADAM HARVEY: The arrival of black GIs in the 1940s sparked political changes too.

Dr Bob Hall is a military historian at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra.

BOB HALL: They helped to stimulate an already existing but modest Aboriginal political movement.

ADAM HARVEY: There was another wave of American servicemen in the mid 60s.

PETER STANLEY: There were thousands of Americans who arrived in Sydney, especially on R and R - rest and recreation leave. And that did create... bring its own costs.

I mean, things like prostitution - drugs especially, with the American presence in Vietnam seeing an increase in drug use. That washed into the places where Americans went for R and R. So Kings Cross became a centre of the drug trade partly because of the market that visiting Americans opened up.

ADAM HARVEY: Numbers dropped after Vietnam but the controversy continued.

NEIL JAMES: There was a lot of what you'd loosely call left wing protest against the joint facilities in the late 1960s and early 1970s. That largely dissipated after they became joint and not exclusively American.

Peter Stanley says the economic advantage of a bigger US military presence may bring other costs.

PETER STANLEY: The reasons why Americans might like to establish bases in Australia are exactly the same now as they were in 1942.

Australia is a stable, democratic, prosperous country with lots of skilled employment, with reliable infrastructure, and it's a stable platform for them to exert American military power and presence in our region.

And that's the reason why Australians would want to be very sure before they agree to such a proposition.

ADAM HARVEY: A spokesman for Northern Territory's Chief Minister says training and rotation of US soldiers near Darwin will increase but they've been told there'll be no bigger, permanent military presence.

If there is an announcement it'll be made when president Obama arrives in Darwin on Thursday.

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